Track brake for material handling bridge



June 18, 1957 F. J. GEYER TRACK BRAKE FOR MATERIAL HANDLING BRIDGE 4 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Nov. 1, 1951 June 18, 1957 F. J. GEYER TRACK BRAKE FOR MATERIAL HANDLING BRIDGE 4 She'ets-Sheet 2 Filed NOV. 1, 1951 ZyaeFzZJr; 4 96 J66 673 fl/ifi June 18, 1957 F. J. GEYER TRACK BRAKE FOR MATERIAL HANDLING BRIDGE 4 Sheets-Sheet 3 Filed Nov. 1, 1951 MR R June 18, 1957 F. J. GEYER TRACK BRAKE FOR MATERIAL HANDLING BRIDGE 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 Filed Nov. 1, 1951 F "C? f 76 e 67:

'W @f j TRACK BRAKE FORMATERIALHANDLING BRIDGE Fred J. Geyer, fiighland lnd assignor to :Inland :Steel Company, a corporation .of Delaware Application November 1 1951, Serial No. 254,310 C a ms- (C 7.

This invention relates to movable material handling bridges and more particularly ,to a supporting and anchor system for such bridges.

Extremely large material handling devices are usually found adjacent docks, particularly at the docks of such heavy industries as steel mills. Ordinarily the basic raw materials which go into making ,steel are transported 'by water and are unloaded from barges and ships at the steel mill site. These materials 'arefgenerally stock piled in the area adjacent the dock by huge cranes, generally known as traveling ore bridges. These bridges extend inwardly from the waterway and consist of an elevated truss spanning a considerable distance and supported in its elevated position on a pair of spaced legs. These legs have railway-type wheels at their bottoms which are mounted for movement over rails on roadbeds arranged perpendicularly to the span of the truss. Thus, the bridge may be moved sideways along the dock 'to'handle material in different locations.

'Ihese large material handling bridges are generally moved sideways along the roadbeds at a very slow rate because of their mass-and size. The distance between the legs and the construction of the latter of necessity make it possible for the outer or dock end of the bridge to be moved sideways about the inside or pier leg as a center. This type of movement is called skewing. The permissible amount of skewing, however, is small compared with the span of thebridge, and the .truss structure would be permanently damaged if the bridge skew-s beyond the permissible amount.

-:Wind against the bridge structure has always been a very important consideration in the design of safety devicesand methods used to prevent damage to the bridge.

The bridge structure has a considerable proportion of its mass positioned at quite some distance from the bearing surfaces upon which it is movable, and thus wind pressure can ex-erta considerable force tending to move the bridge sideways. Once the bridge is in motion, a gust of wind against one end of the structure can cause the'bridge to skew beyondthe permissible amount, thereby causing irreparable damage. Presently known devices are inadequate for stopping the bridge after it has been set in motion.

'Another problem in the present day bridge safety devices is that of anchoring the bridge in a fixed position once it has been stopped. Present-day methods employ warning whistles or sirens automatically set off when the wind velocity reaches certain proportions. When the whistle is sounded it is a warning and a summons to all workers in the vicinity to drop their other work and rush to the bridge legs to place cribbing and blocks in and around the wheels of the bridge. Obviously this requires aconsiderable waste of manpower and expense.

A specific embodiment of the present invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which: I

1 is a diagrammatic broken side elevational view of a bridge structure and the surrounding area; Fig. 2 is a fragmentary side elevational view of the structure of one United States Patent Patented June 18, 1957 leg of the bridge adjacent the roadbed taken substantially along line ,2-2 in Fig. 1; Fig. 3 is a fragmentary plan view of the structure shown in Fig, 2; 4 is a vertical sectional view taken substantially along "line 4 -4i-n Fig. 2; and 'Fig. 5 is a fragmentary enlarged sectiontaken substantially along line '55 in :Fig. 4.

The diagrammatic showing of Fig. 1 illustrates an-ore barge 10 floating in water 11 adjacent the dock 12 at a steel mill site. The area adjacentthe dock .12 is built up on piling 13 to withstand considerable weight of material which might be placed on top and adjacent the'doc'k. inwardly spaced fromthe dock site 12 area number of bins for storing various materials which go into the making of steel. These bins are separated by foundation bearing walls such as that illustrated at 14 and 15. On top of these bearing walls there is placed, respectively, arailroad type bed .17 and 18. The bridge 20 generally spans a distance from adjacent the dock 12 inwardly to the skip pit 16 from which material may be taken to the furnaces in which steel is made.

The bridge 20 is supported upon spaced legs including a pier leg .21 which has two spaced parts, one onieach side of the truss forming the main part of the bridge, and so called dock or shear leg 22 which also has two portions. Both of the legs 21 and 22 extend downwardly and outwardly from the truss so that the bottom ends of the legs are farther apart than their upper ends. The shear leg 22 perm-its some lateral movement of the outer end 23 of the bridge relative to the pier leg 21. This movement may be as much as 2 toeither side; and since some of these bridges have a span of the order .of 350 feet between the legs 21 and 22, the movement of the outer end 23 may amount to 10 to '20 feet to either side of center. This type of movement is called skewing and is permissible to-the amount designed in the structure and any further skewing would permanently injure the bridge, which injury ordinarily is not reparable,

Fig. l also shows iron one 1 9 stored between walls 15 and 14 on which the legs of the bridge are mounted and between other retaining walls 24 and 25 which are closer place to place by a clam-like bucket mounted on a carriage which can travel over the length of the truss, giving movement to material in one direction and the whole bridge is movable in a direction perpendicular to the movement of the clam bucket to place thesb ridge in the proper position.

In the past the braking deviceshave been designed for such bridges and have consisted of brakes on the railwaytype wheels themselves and rail clamps which grasped the upper flange portion of the rails themselves, These brakes depended upon friction between the brake shoes and the rails or wheels, as the case may have been, to stop the movement of the bridge. Neither system nor their combination has been successful primarily because the total area of friction surface between the Wheels and rails or the clamps and the rails has not been sufficient relative to the weight of the bridge and the force of the Wind against it to positively stop the movement of the bridge. Because of this inadequacy which cannot be remedied by providing larger clamps, a number of bridges have been totally lost during periods of high Wind.

The present invention obviates the braking problems ,in boxes 37 secured to the base frame.

channel. -the eccentric portion 43 of a shaft 44 also journaled in bearings 45 secured to the base frame 31. Ordinarily a tries which control the position of the feet 42.

previously existent with moving bridges and anchors them by providing a member which can shift the Weight vof the bridge from the wheels, or a rolling support, to a difierent type that is, a stationary type of bearing on the railroad bed, and specifically to a relatively fixed support. By transferring the weight of the bridge from wheels to a large bearing surface, the bridge may be anchored against movement by any wind pressure known and thus may be held fixed in such position against all natural forces.

The specific embodiment chosen for illustration purposes and as detailed in Figs. 2-5, shows one part 30 of the shear leg 22 of a bridge as joined to a base framework 31 which has thereon a number of railway-type wheels 35. The base frame 31 is a very strong structure and its major components include a pair of spaced Lbeams 32 which are bridged across with bracing structure which has been omitted for purposes of clarity. The wheels 35 are arranged in pairs transversely and laterally of the tracks 35a also arranged in pairs (Figure 4) and are mounted on the axles 36, as are ordinary railway-type wheels. The outer journals of the axles 36 are mounted A plurality of pairs of wheels 35 are employed, six pairs being illustrated (Figure 2). The particular means for driving the wheels 35 to move the bridge may take various forms and include a motor geared to the wheels, cable drives with the cables anchored to the ends of the railways and other means, all of which are not particularly concerned with the invention here. Ordinarily the rails 35a are mounted either on ties with or without ballast therebetween or other prepared foundation 38 mounted on top of the bearing walls 14 and 15 which are in turn supported on the piling under the walls.

The particular form of the invention herein illustrated utilizes an elongated shoe 40 in the shape of a channel so positioned that its lower surface may come into contact with the roadbed 38 between rails 35a to provide the relatively fixed support. The ends 41 of the channel are turned upwardly to avoid possible catching of the channel member on the ties or other obstructions in the roadbed. The shoe 40 is supported by a number of depending feet 42 which are bolted or otherwise secured to the These feet are each mounted rotatably upon number of shafts 44 are provided to correspond with the number of axles 36 which support the wheels 35. In this manner the load of the bridge may be distributed over bearing axles of equal number whether the device is resting on the rotatable wheels or on the relatively fixed shoe 40. Retaining collars 46 are keyed to the shafts 44 to retain the depending feet 42 in their proper position. 'The eccentrics 43 have a relatively small pitch so that the movement of the shoe 40 is relatively small in magnitude. Ordinarily the shoe may be raised one or two inches above the rail bed 38 and lowered against the bed as desired.

The particular means here employed for raising and lowering the feet, and thus the shoe, comprises a plurality of counterweights 50 bolted or otherwise secured to the shafts 44 to rock the shafts and thus the eccen- The counterweights 50 are proportioned so as to place a force on the feet 42 corresponding to the weight supported by each wheel axle. When the number of shafts 44 equals the number of wheel axles 36, this proportioning of the counterweights 50 results in a transfer of the weight of the bridge from the wheels to the shoe upon lowering of the counterweights. Since the shoe 40 has a considerably greater friction area than the combined total of all the wheels 35, the shoe will effectively stop and anchor the bridge. Ordinarily it is desirable to place the counterweights 50 in a position that gravity will lower the weights to force the shoe against the roadbed, and then it is only necessary to provide a mechanical means for raising the counterweights and thus the shoe.

A motor 52 is supported on the base frame and coupled with mechanism for raising the counterweights to rock the shafts and raise the shoe. Motor 52 is coupled with gear boxes 53 and 54 by shafts 55 and 56, and longitudinally extending shafts 57 and 58 extend along either side of the base frame 31 over the counterweights 50. A number of cable drums 59 are mounted on each shaft and cables 60 are secured to the counterweights and wound about the drums 59 so that turning of the shafts 57 and 58 can wind the cables 60 upon the drums, thus raising the counterweights. A motor 52 may be of a type that will remain energized to hold the counterweights in their raised position during moving of the bridge and will release the counterweights immediately upon the cutting off of power used to drive the wheels 35. It is preferable that the braking means provided by the counterweights and shoe be automatically controlled by the operator of the bridge so that the brake will be immediately applied when his desired to stop the bridge.

Any mechanical expedient may be used for applying sufficient pressure to the shoe 40 to raise the bridge from the wheels so that the effective weight of the bridge rests on the shoe rather than the wheels. While I have herein shown a number of shafts having eccentrics for raising and lowering the shoe, it is obvious that screw devices, systems of levers, cams or hydraulic means may be used in place of the counterweighted system herein disclosed. In each of the systems that might be used, the shoe 40 should be supplied with sufiicient downwardly directed force to transfer the major portion of the weight of the bridge from the wheels to the shoe. The channel 40 in each instance should be a continuous member secured to a number of feet 42 which act in unison. A number of shoes may be provided for each leg of the bridge or one continuous shoe may be provided for each leg as desired and as required by the particular size of bridge.

The foregoing detailed description has been given for clearness of understanding only, and no unnecessary limitations should be understood therefrom, for some modifications will be obvious to those skilled in the art.

I claim:

1. In a movable, elevated material handling bridge supported by widely spaced dock and pier legs, each secured to a base frame, the combination of a traveling support for said legs and bridge comprising laterally spaced pairs of railway-type wheels on axles carried by each of said frames and adapted to travel over spaced parallel rails upon a road bed extending transversely to the length of the bridge, with a relatively fixed support for said leg and bridge comprising a shoe supported and carried by each frame, said shoe having a generally flat lower surface for engaging said road bed, said shoes being mounted for vertical movement into and out of engagement with said road bed, and shafts journalled in said frames and having eccentric portions engaging the shoe supporting means for lowering said shoes sufficiently to transfer the weight of the bridge from said wheels and axles to said shoes and prevent skewing of the bridge in high winds.

2. A combination of movable and fixed supports for an elevated material handling bridge as defined in claim 1 wherein said shoes are supported by a plurality of feet extending upwardly from the shoes to said eccentric portions of said shafts and being engaged by said portions, said shafts numbering the same as the wheel axles of the bridge.

3. A combination of movable and fixed supports for an elevated material handling bridge as defined in claim 1 wherein said relatively fixed supports are disposed between said pairs of wheels and also include a plurality of shafts carried by the frame of each leg between said pairs of wheels, each shaft having an eccentric portion positioned laterally between said wheels, a foot member engaging an eccentric portion of each shaft and depending from the shaft and being attached to said shoe, and means for rocking the shafts to lower the feet and attached shoes simultaneously to contact with the road bed with sufficient force to transfer the weight of the bridge through said shoes to the road bed.

4. A combination of movable and fixed supports for a bridge as defined in claim 3 wherein at least one counterweight is secured to each shaft and positioned to rock the shaft in a direction to lower the shoes, and means for raising the counterweights to raise the shoes.

5. A combination of movable and fixed supports for a bridge as defined in claim 3 wherein said counterweight raising means comprises an electrically driven motor.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Jewett June 26, Volk Mar. 11, Hodges Jan. 5, Poth Mar. 21, Taylor Aug. 1, Monroe June 10, Di Salvatore Sept. 7, Van Syckle Mar. 12,

FOREIGN PATENTS Germany Dec 14, 

